From the Mountain Xpress:

Asheville's Cooperatively-owned "Firestorm Cafe and Books announces the launch of a new partnership with fellow worker-cooperative Equal Exchange, the oldest and largest Fair Trade coffee company in the U.S. On Monday, Feb. 27, the café will celebrate the joint venture with free coffee all day and more. Here's the press release:

"We've been told for years that we serve some of the best coffee and espresso in town, so we don't take a change in beans lightly (no pun intended). Although Equal Exchange, a company firmly rooted in social movement, seemed like a natural choice for us philosophically, we spent nearly twelve months exploring the potential partnership, during which time we researched their business practices, sampled over a wide array of their roasts and twice met with representatives from their cooperative. What we found was extremely exciting.

"Founded with the goal of fostering a Fair Trade movement with teeth, Equal Exchange has been an unwavering ally of small farmer co-operatives and sustainable farming around the world. Our new cooperative partners operate a market network of over two million producers, workers, investors, merchants, activists and consumers. Over the years they have used this standing to publicly speak out against agricultural child trafficking, push back against attacks on the organic certification standard and, most recently, take a lead role in opposing the dilution of the Fair Trade standard by domestic certifier Fair Trade USA…

"Equal Exchange was recently named one of the world's "Most Democratic Workplaces" by WorldBlu and, like us, has publicly supported the Occupy movement. It seems only fitting then that we should announce this partnership in 2012, a year that is being promoted by the United Nations and major cooperative federations as the International Year of the Cooperative.  Please join us on Monday, Feb. 27 to sample our new roasts and join the conversation!

A video from FSRN's The Real News on the Restaurant Opportunities Center and Colors Restaurant.

Related

• Colors: Building a Cooperative Restaurant

The Workers' Owned Sewing Company was, at peak, a 70-worker democratic cut-and-sew factory that operated for 21 years in Windsor, North Carolina.  The company was founded in 1979 out of the bankruptcy of a 12 year-old form called Bertie Industries (after Bertie County).  The manager of that firm, Tim Bazemore, reorganized the company as a democratic enterprise and helped relaunch it with the help of consultants including Frank Adams of ICA.   Bazemore owned all the shares for the first two years but then began to sell them to the workers through payroll deductions.  An elected 7-member board was responsible for all major business decisions, including hiring and firing the plant manager.  After several years of subcontracting, the cooperative was successful enough in 1983 to sell directly to K-Mart and Sears.     

The success of the cooperative helped activists to persuade Guilford College's Business Management Department to sponsor four-day summer workshops three successive summers, and contributed to the founding of the Self-Help Credit Union, which in turn helped the cooperative to expand.  In 1993 Bazemore was invited by Bill Clinton to the White House to speak to bankers and community economic developers that "poor minorities could build enterprises, create jobs, and instill confidence in their future" as Clinton announced his Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act.   

Pictures from Adams and Shirey.

Sources

• U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, "Regional Histories"
• Nadeau and Thompson, "Cooperation Works!"  1996  [large file]
• Frank Adams and Richard Shirey, "Workers' Owned Sewing Company: Making The Eagle Fly Friday."  1993
• Kathy Hoke interview with Tim Bazemore, 1992
• Joyce Baugh, "Employee Ownership as a Strategy for Black Economic Empowerment."  1987
• Peter Pitegoff, " Organizing Worker Cooperatives." 1985
• Mother Jones Magazine, "Turning Workers into Bosses." 1982

In 1992 Kathy Hoke interviewed Bazemore about his childhood, his time in and return from World War II, his activism, and his enterprises.  The transcription of the interview is an inspiring read, an exceprt of which is below. 

Once Again Nut Butter is a 100% employee-owned, democratic ESOP that produces peanut, almond, and cashew butters, honey, and a variety of other products from the town of Nunda in Western New York.  Once Again has been democratically operated for 35 years, has 30 employee-owners,  and had revenues of $14 million in 2007.  The company operates on a 1 member, 1 vote sytem, distributes profit shares equally to all owners, and has a 3.5 to 1 compensation ratio of highest to lowest paid employees. 

The business has always been at the forefront of producing organic foods, and is active in the fair trade  and cooperative movements.  Members sit on the board of the Domestic Fair Trade Association with members of Equal Exchange, Organic Valley, the Cooperative Fund of New England, The Olympia Food Coop, Seward Coop, and others.  One of the founders, Jeremy Thaler, helped to organize the 2007 Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy in North Carolina. Once Again has a history of supporting international fair trade, buying sesame seeds and honey from farm cooperatives established by Jubilee House in Nicaragua (as well as sourcing honey from local New York beekeepers)  The company has made significant donations to and trade relationships with Jubilee House's sewing cooperatives. 

The business is one of the largest almond butter producers in the world, and has ingredient accounts for major companies such as General Mills for its Nature’s Valley granola bars and formerly for Ben and Jerry’s “Wavy Gravy” ice cream.  In 2011 they were named Best Peanut Butter by Men’s Health Magazine.

A short video introduces the opening of Ohio Cooperative Solar, one of the network of Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland Ohio.  The cooperative has begun to install photovoltaicpanels on the three anchor institutions that are part of Cleveland's economic empowerment zone: Case Western University, University Hospitals, and the Cleveland Clinic. 

The  cooperative will install, own, and maintain the panels that they install and sell the generated power to the host institutions.  As a for profit business they are entitled to government solar incentives that non-profit universities and hospitals cannot receive.  Because solar installation is not a year-round business in the Ohio, the cooperative diversified with a weatherization program for the colder months in order to create full-time jobs.   

CEO Steve Kiel, who says he is like an employee of the cooperative's 20 worker-owners, explains his goals include structured wealth creation for the workers' long term economic security.  A share of the company's surplus is allocated to the workers but retained in the company, capitalizing the business while creating long-term individual savings. 

Via the Cooperative Development Center at Kent State University

"Union Representatives met with management during most of 1977 to hammer out a contract. Discussions proved unproductive. However, after a four day strike in September, 1977, Checker management caved in and signed a contract. During the next year, negotiations moved slowly and relations were strained. Employees filed 25 grievances. None were resolved. In September, 1978, talks broke down and for the second time in twelve months, a strike was authorized. Management tried to maintain operations with scab labor, but the union shut them down completely within a few days.

In December, rumors surfaced that Checker would stay closed permanently. A variety of sentiments developed among the strikers. Some felt guilty about getting employees into something which might cost them their livelihoods. Some were frustrated and angry because the union was unable to reach a negotiated settlement. Some began to feel that if Checker did close permanently, it would be better than working for its management again.

In January, 1979, ex-Checker workers Steve Krumrei, Jim Cooley, Dave Everitt, Jim Symon and Jim Applebaum resolved to create a worker owned company. They felt they had, amongst the membership, enough expertise to be successful in the taxi business. When it became apparent that Checker management would not reapply for taxi permits, Union Cab incorporated. Later that month, it applied for 20 permits. From March to June, Union Cab contacted lawyers, made financial projections, applied to the Federal Communications Commission for a radio license and began seeking the estimated $150,000 necessary to begin initial operations.

By early June, Union Cab had only obtained enough money to put a down payment on the radios. Every day was a juggling act, as projected expenses had to be reevaluated in light of available sources of capital. Finally, a loan package was arranged: $95,000 came from the First Wisconsin Bank (Firstar), $35,000 from the Madison Development Corporation, $15,000 from Wisconsin Horizons and almost $15,000 fro the sale of preferred stock. On October 29, 1979, Union Cab of Madison Cooperative, Inc. opened for business, with 11 new cabs. It was difficult at the beginning, with no yellow pages ad and an average wage of around $0.80 per hour. The Cooperative lost $35,000 in the first three months. Losses were expected, but their magnitude concerned everyone. On February 14, 1980, the City permitted the cab companies to raise their rates. At that point, Union turned the corner."

From colab.coop

CoLab Coop’s mission is to help you help others online. We often collaborate as part of multi-disciplinary ‘do good’ teams that make the world better. Our specialty is in designing and programming technology solutions that meet socially conscious business objectives.   Coop means that each technology worker in CoLab has the option of becoming a co-owner of the company. We recognize that all of our contributors are equally responsible for our success or failure.

Taksu Interactive in is the process of forming a cooperative, brought about by the spirit of collaboration that runs deep with in our souls.  In life and in work, we have found that when we join forces with other like minded individuals to achieve a goal, we end up exceeding expectations, learning more and being less stressed in the process. In the works for over a year now and perhaps in our hearts dating back several years, Taksu is taking the leap to become a member owned technology cooperative. Working independently as designers, developers and new media professionals for the better part of 10 years, collaboration on each others projects began to become more and more common. It became clear that some kind of formal organization would allow us to share resources for more challenging projects and offer clients faster turn around time. We could do this all while creating a nurturing work environment and helping the careers of people we loved. It was a natural evolution. We are realizing too that there are many people out there who share a similar desire to redefine the concept of work and how it integrates with other parts of one's life. It is for this reason that we will be sharing a lot of what we go through here on this blog. We can also humbly say that we are not the experts, but hopefully by sharing our experiences in forming this coop, we can help others and ourselves grow stronger and happier. 

The process really started to snow ball when we discovered that an old friend of from the Bay Area, a coop founder himself, had begun coaching other organizations on the process. Shawn Berry (along with Tom Clossey) formally organized their wood shop, Woodshanti into a worker-owned cooperative in 2002. Since that time they have become a model for progressive business development, joining other long standing coops in Northern California like Rainbow Grocery and CELLspace. You can read more about Woodshanti and coops in general at www.go.coop.

Hipfish Monthly looks back on the history of Astoria, Oregon's Blue Scorcher Bakery and Café. 

In 2009 co-founders Joe Garrison and Iris Sullivan Daire (married partners) began meeting more formally with a group of the workers who were interested in developing the business as a co-op. While Joe and Iris have officially been the owners in a DBA structure, “From the beginning it was a very participatory, collective business,” says Iris.

Flashback 2004, many customers to Blue Scorcher will remember The Bread Collective, the more humble beginnings of the busy bakery/café — about 5 folks gathered together in the back of a former restaurant, to bake good organic bread together and tasty cookies, and make it available to desiring consumers. What seemed rather experimental at the time has since evolved into one of Astoria’s most popular community gathering places. On a recent stormy weekday afternoon, there was a substantial crowd both at the bakery takeout counter and at the restaurant tables, where patrons enjoyed a daily special of fragrant garbanzo tangine soup served of course, with a gargantuan chunk of bread hand made in the bread oven a few feet away. Unlike most restaurants, here one of numerous chef/cooks delivers your meal to you, a touch that seems especially homey. The Blue Scorcher has also long been a large part of both the social and philanthropic scene in Astoria, hosting the late summer Lughnasa Fest, celebrating local growers and sustainability practices, Full Moon monthly dinner gatherings, making the dining area available to numerous types of events and bread donations to community organizations.

As the Blue Scorcher has curbed some if its own community productions, the focus now has turned to the work of creating cooperative bylaws, and membership agreements as six worker members step up to the cooperative plate with earnest monies. And while a worker-cooperative model serves a practical economic approach, Iris Sullivan Daire speaks passionately to the humanistic qualities that the coop structure allows, “When you have a voice, you are more fully human. When you are separate from what you do [in your place of employment] it becomes enslavement.” The cooperative environment, as the Blue Scorcher proves too, is creating space for people to transition in life and in their relationship to work.

The Gainesville Business Report has an article on the thriving cooperative movement in the "eclectic" university town in North Central Florida, including the worker-owned restaurant Civilization. 

Gainesville’s eclectic culture has spawned several co-operative businesses in recent years, providing the community with access to good food and great art, creating great places to gather and giving members pride of ownership…

...Prosser was intent upon operating a business in which the workers were the owners when he bought Terranova Catering three years ago. He was buoyed by the availability of top-notch staff with whom he had worked at the Paramount Grill and other restaurants.  There was a catch. Most of the workers he started with didn’t get it, Prosser says. “They couldn’t get used to a different way of doing things. Democracy can be frustrating.”

Fortunately, Prosser and his wife, Ann Murray, have found an ample supply of workers, many of them artists, who embrace the idea of becoming part of a worker-owned cooperative as he expanded Terranova and started Civilization restaurant, Prosser says.  In addition to the 10 owners-workers, Civilization has 15 other workers, most of whom are interested in making the $1,000 commitment—which can be paid over time—to become owners, Murray says.  Among those involved is Caroline Hines, one of the few original staff who has remained with the business. Hines, who manages the catering business, says being an owner makes people like their jobs better  “It makes you responsible and aware of what needs to be done,” she says. “If I see that the plants need to be watered, I water them. If I see that the mat needs to be swept, I sweep it.”

Related

• Gainesville, Florida's Worker-owned Restaurant: Civilization
• Florida senatorial candidate promises support for worker-owned cooperative businesses

Carly Damman, of the Ohio University School of Journalism, interviews Michelle Wasserman about the worker-owned restaurant Casa Nueva in Athens, Ohio.

Resources from Casa Nueva's Cooperative Governance page

• What is a Co-op?
• Wanna Start a Co-op?
• Rules of Operation
• Ground Rules of Cooperation
• Cooperative Principles
• Our Structure
• How we VOTE!
• By-laws
• Facilitation Training

Resources from Casa Nueva's Press page

• "Crew Hopes to Start Worker-Owned Eatery" by Lisa Stettler, The Athens News 1985 (excerpt)
• "Casa Nueva Blends Best of Old Image with Plans for the New" by Lee Landenberger, The Athens Messenger 1985 (excerpt)
• "Renewing The Countryside", Renewing The Countryside
• "Worker Owned Restaurant Promotes Healthy Entrees and Entrepreneurs"
• "Many Cooks Make A Restaurant Success", In Business Magazine March/April 2000
• "Food For Thought", Ohio Magazine, January 2008
• "Ohio's Best Hometowns 2009 - Athens", Ohio Magazine, November 2008
• "Party With The Pawpaw", Ohio Magazine, September 2008
• "Worth The Trip", by Nancy McKibben, Edible Columbus Summer 2010
• "Worker-Owned Cooperative in the USA", Rivista Anarchica Online, January 2011
• "There Is So Much Future In What We Do...", by Karen Thomas, Owners At Work, Winter 2011
• "Athens, Ohio is Going the Distance in Local Food Movement", by Wendy Pramik, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Spring 2011
• Casa Q & A Video, by Carly Damman, OU School of Journalism, Fall 2011

"The mere mention of worker collectives managing food co-ops sends most modern cooperators into a rehash of the collapse of many “new wave” food co-ops of the 1970s. That wave was motivated by a revolutionary zeal to challenge the capitalist system, translating into hundreds of experiments in worker-managed buying clubs and storefront co-ops."

"When the new wave co-ops landed on the shores of economic reality, one common response was a return to the tried-and-true co-op model of member-owners and hierarchical management systems. However, a small and determined band of cooperators in Portland, Ore., disagreed with prevailing wisdom, and set out to develop a worker-managed and consumer-owned co-op model.

People’s Food Co-op, founded in 1970, went through many management system changes, from the general manager model to various iterations of worker collectives. We have had many near-death experiences due to mismanagement, ideological differences, and lack of funds. One defining moment for People’s came in 1991, when the store was struggling and the collective voted to close the doors. The board of directors fired the collective and hired a general manager and staff. Together, they developed tactics to improve People’s sales and management. The staff began working to return People’s to collective management, an approach that the board of directors finalized in 1993."

Bob Davis and Lori Burge describe People's Food Co-ops worker-managed / consumer-owned governance model in 2008. Via Cooperative Grocer.

Figures from 2008:

From video maker Margot Smith at Off Center Video. 

"Three worker-owned businesses show what it's like to work collectively, manage a business and deal with problems in a truly democratic way.  The Cheeseboard Bakery and Cheese Shop with 18 workers, Rainbow Grocery with 150 workers, and Inkworks Press with18 members, all located in the San Francisco Bay Area, are successful worker-owned businesses, and members of NoBAWC."

All of these businesses have grown since the film was made in the 1990s.  Rainbow has over 250 worker-owners.  The Cheese Board has over 50, and has helped spin off Arizmendi Lakeshore, shown in the video, and four other bakeries, with another 100 worker-owners.  Inkworks has grown and spun off its graphic design department as Design Action Collective. 

The Red Vic Movie House, San Francisco's iconic, worker-owned and volunteer supported landmark, is closing, after struggling financially.    The SF Bay Guardian interview with worker-owner Claudia Lehan is copied after the fold. 

Co-Soap Hopes Its Unique Business Model Will Spark Economic Growth and Justice.  Imagine going to work every day and being your own boss, in fact, imagine everyone at work being their own boss. Sound far fetched? Not for three Oaklanders who hope to stimulate the Bay Area's economy justly, as well as prosperously. Walfre Cruz, Greg Elenbaas, and Rayna Kilroy hope to use soap to spread the message of worker cooperatives as an alternative and more socially-justifiable form of business ownership.

"Worker Cooperatives are different because each worker has an equal vote in the direction of the business as well as an equal ownership stake. This motivates workers to work harder because their performance is directly related to their income," Kilroy asserts. Their business donates 10% of their pre-wage profits to the Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NoBAWC.org, pronounced "No Boss"), whose mission is to build the worker cooperative movement in the Bay Area.

"We hope to be able to grow enough that we can eventually work with NoBAWC to hold business plan competitions and award grants to teams of individuals hoping to start worker cooperatives in the Bay Area," adds Cruz. While their ambitions are large, their means are practical. Starting small, they are currently selling their products online at co-soap.com, as well as at Homespun Bikes by Lake Merrit, and are currently looking for other merchants interested in purchasing wholesale.

"The idea came from my study of the gilded age, the late 19th century. During those hard times, workers and farmers joined together to form worker and consumer cooperatives that made the difficulties of a tumultuous and unpredictable economy a little easier to bear," says Elenbaas. "Farmers created huge combinations that attempted to lift sharecroppers and small landowners alike out of poverty and into prosperity. We feel that the time has come again for workers to come together to produce and consume goods that benefit our local economy, rather than consuming products from a faceless company who ships jobs overseas."

In addition to being a worker cooperative, all of Co-Soap's products are 100% vegan. Kilroy quips, "While we are not yet there, we are planning on sourcing at least 75% of our ingredients from the California economy.  If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Co-Soap, please call Greg Elenbaas at 619-200-8084, or e-mail him at greg (at) co-soap.com.

via Grassroots Economic Organizing

The Vida Verde Women's Co-Operative (Co-Op) was launched in December of 2006 by the Brazilian Women's Group (BWG) with the purpose of organizing Brazilian immigrant house cleaners to combat the occupational and environmental dangers posed by traditional toxic cleaning materials and to alleviate the exploitation of workers. BWG is a volunteer-run community organizing organization, started in 1995 by a group of Brazilian immigrant women of various backgrounds and occupations. The BWG’s Mission is to promote political and cultural awareness, and contribute to the development and self-sufficiency of the Brazilian community, especially women and children.

The Vida Verde Co-Op, currently with 15 members, has become a community asset and a strong voice in raising awareness and training new members on the dangers of using toxic cleaning materials and the need to create alternatives that protect personal health and both the microenvironment of the client's home and the ambient environment. The Co-Op was also formed to address issues of social justice within the membership of the organization. We believe the Co-Op to be an effective public health intervention aimed at the empowerment and support of its members and the broader community that it serves.

The success of the Co-Op is visible by its growing popularity with the Brazilian community as well as with homeowners becoming more aware of how traditional housecleaning products expose them to toxic dangers. To date, the Co-Op has trained over 200 women and men on the use of natural cleaning products. Also the number of homeowners using the Co-Op cleaning services has surpassed 250. They are pleased with the natural products that the housecleaners use as well as the care the taken to keep their homes a safe environment.

The main cleaning products used by the Vida Verde Co-Op were developed by Monica Chianelli, based on the book Clean House, Clean Planet, by Karen Logan. The cleaning products made and employed by the Co-Op members have been rigorously examined by the Toxic Use Reduction Institute for safety and effectiveness when constrasted against traditional cleaning agents. As with other homemade recipes, these have continued to evolve, as co-op members offer feedback and make improvements in the products. The Co-Op main cleaners include Fantastic, an all-purpose cleaner, Amazing, a glass cleaner, Terrific, a furniture polish, Fabulous, a floor cleaner, and Magic, an antiseptic soap. Below is the recipe for Magic, our most popular product.

Mix

2 ½ cups of water,

3 teaspoons of Castile soap,

30 drops of tea tree oil

Mix the solution and spay this product on floors, toys, toilets, sinks and bathtubs or in other places that may need cleaning.

For more information please go to

http://verdeamarelo.org/vidaverde/

Or contact the Vida verde Women’s Co-Op at

617-787-0557 ext 14 or email us at vidaverde@verdeamarelo.org